The ham-handed manner in which the electronics & IT department and the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) have dealt with their initiative to have imported electronic products carry a BIS certification is drawing widespread criticism both in India and overseas.

This week, three American trade bodies representing the consumer electronics, IT and telecom industries in the US have jointly sent a strong letter requesting the Obama administration to take up the matter with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his visit to Washington.

"Specifically, we request US government support in pressing for at least a six-month delay in the implementation date beyond October 3, creation of an exemption for highly-specialized equipment, and the suspension of fines for noncompliance given the backlog at BIS and the continuing, good-faith efforts by companies to meet the testing and registration requirements," said the letter signed by the Consumer Electronics Association, Information Technology Industry Council, and Telecommunications Industry Association.

The Indian government last year issued what it called the Compulsory Registration Order that made it mandatory for 15 categories of electronic and IT products to be registered under the BIS. The categories include laptops, tablets, plasma/LCD/LED televisions, optical disc players, set top boxes, microwave ovens, video games, scanners and printers among others. The idea was to certify them for their quality, safety and health implications under Indian conditions.

The initial government deadline for certification was April 3, which was extended to July 3, and once again to October 3. The extensions became inevitable following industry protests, and the realization that BIS had not been able to establish the testing infrastructure necessary to ensure timely certifications. In an industry where products often become obsolete in months, timely certifications are critical.

"If there is no change in the October 3 deadline, you will not be able to import a single IT hardware product in to the country next month," said S Rajendran, chief marketing officer of Acer India.

Rahul Agarwal, executive director-commercial business segment of PC maker Lenovo India, said the company had submitted 150 products and only about 50 had been certified. "The October 3 deadline is unrealistic".

The government has to put more resources on the job. Sometimes it takes 2-3 months to test a batch of products. The intent is good, but execution was not planned to support the volumes of new products," he said.

When contacted, P K Gambhir, deputy director general of BIS, said the ministry decided the deadline and they have to take a call on it. "My feeling is it is unlikely to be extended. We have given about 225 certifications out of 325 or so applications. (each application contains multiple models)"

But that's still a lot of applications that are yet to be certified. Even most of those certified received their certifications this month and companies need 3-4 weeks to ensure that certification stickers are put on every box that arrives at Indian ports. "And there's still lack of clarity even on the labeling format," said an industry representative.